I have never had this much difficulty running before. Unless we are talking about that time when I spent four months working an ass groove on my couch. (Otherwise known as the good ol' days) But seriously, since I became pregnant, and even before I found out that I was, running has become mentally difficult.

My Vancouver BMO Half, where I finally got my sub-2 hr PR, was one of the most difficult runs I've done, and it's been downhill since there.Currently I've been trying to run 5ks with a 10km run every week or two, just to keep up my fitness and to counter balance the bag of BBQ Lays that I annihilate in a single sitting. This is a regular occurrence lately.But even a 5km run is difficult for me. Today I tried to run the Ed Nixon trail near Goldstream Park. Yeah, well I walked it. I ended up heading up into Mount Wells Regional Park so luckily since I was walking up a mountain I was able to still get a half decent workout in. But for the life of me, my head wouldn't let me have the willpower to run.

Ed Nixon Trail - the ugly part that I ran. Although it was a lot nicer out today. (Not my photo - clink the pic for a link to the trailpeak website I borrowed it from)

Yesterday my husband and I did 5km together (he's finally running and training for the Vic half in October) and I ran the whole thing, hills and all. Albeit very slowly, but I still ran. So what's my problem then?

My pace has slowed from a 5:30km for my half to 6:15-6:30ish for a 5km. Seriously WTF!?!But that would be okay with me if I could continuously run the freaking thing. My last 10km was two weeks ago and I finished it in 01:04:00, which I'm happy with because it's close enough to that one hour mark. But I'm afraid to even attempt my 10km for this week. So, has anyone experienced this mental fatigue before? Am I hitting the proverbial wall? Is it a pregnancy thing? I'm in my second trimester now, but I'd still rather spend my entire day sleeping so maybe that is a part of it.Maybe I'm also secretly afraid of hurting the baby by pushing myself too hard? I have no idea what is happening. All I know is that I need to figure out a way to work around it and get my groove back - before I give up running for the remainder of my pregnancy and join interpretive dance or something like that. And let me just start by saying that I'm not making fun of interpretive dance or anything - it just isn't my thing. They didn't call me Brute on the high school wrestling team for nothing!So I guess for now, I power through this mental hump, maybe start to integrate some cross-training, I know it certainly wouldn't hurt. And then actually start working out/running at least 5 x's a week again. It's been hard with my work schedule, but I will bet that's a part of the mental blockage I am currently experiencing. Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant. If anyone has managed to stick with this post that long;)So here's to making a future runner, who I will hopefully be able to run faster than - hey, I need something alright?! D is already faster than me for crying out loud!